Other Worlds
by Sable-Reiver
Summary: AU drabbles and multi-chapter shortfics for Kingdom Hearts that don't fit elsewhere. Multiple pairings: SoRiku, AkuRoku, Zemyx. Rated T for coarse language, violence and sexual implications.


Sea-glass eyes stared up at him. Pale hands trembled, clutching hard to the tarnished metal of the battered lamp. Underfed, battered, bruised, _broken_, Sora didn't know what to do. The usual spiel seemed... pretentious. Deluded. But it was the only way the boy would understand. Well... he could always change it.

"Wh... Who are you?"

"I'm the genie of that lamp." He started softly, smiling and kneeling in the wet grit of the alley. "I can grant you any three wishes that you want." The boy looked confused. Sora wouldn't be surprised if it was disbelief, given the situation. He tried again. "I can give you anything you want."

It didn't seem to help at all. Sora rocked back on his heels, wondering what this boy had gone through, to not even be able to comprehend what was in his grasp. To even be able to accept the power to help himself. It didn't take a lot of imagination – the bruises seething out from under his shirt were enough.

"Help me?"

Sora blinked himself back to those iridescent eyes and tried smiling again. "Is that a wish?"

The boy shook his head slowly. He seemed to be thinking. "I don't..." There was a long pause, filled with the white noise of unfaltering footsteps and murmured conversations. "What do I wish for?"

Many genies would've immediately jumped at the chance of such an easy exploitation. Manipulated the kid, set themselves free, maybe wreaked some havoc in the world. Sora, for one, enjoyed his job even if the living space was a bit cramped. He liked helping people, granting their wishes, seeing them smile even if sometimes all they asked for were things to make themselves richer or more powerful. He wouldn't lie, he exploited loopholes once in a while when he thought someone was out of control, but this... this child was asking the genie to make his wishes for him. And as much as he sometimes longed for freedom and the whisper of the sea, this fragile life needed him.

The problem was, as much as he wanted to just straight up wish the boy the best life he could have, there were rules that went along with his job. A genie could take things as literally as they wanted to when it came to other people's wishes. But in instances like these, the Boss was the one who decided what passed and what didn't, to make it difficult for genies to escape by fluke. Things always had to be very specific. Sora though, knew another way around it.

"Don't worry, I know just what to do."

* * *

"_Riku, you're so handsome!"_

"_Riku, you're so smart!"_

"_You're such an amazing athlete Riku!"_

They came as surely as the sun rising, and all because of that genie. It made him sick.

Riku sighed – sick, because he knew it wasn't him they were complimenting, it was what he'd been turned into. What he'd been _made_ into, like a sculpture. He wasn't ungrateful; his pretty appearance was what got him picked up by that wealthy couple that adopted him. It was just... difficult, knowing he'd never received a genuine compliment in his life. It was a wonder to him, that he didn't hate the magical being for doing it, but it was true. He didn't. Quite the opposite... he actually kind of -

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiku!"

The young man shook his head, a quiet scoff falling from pale lips. "I take it all back."

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Hmm?"

"Me thinking that I didn't dislike you. It was a lie – I definitely do." Riku smirked, chuckled at the pout his words had garnered.

What was more of a wonder to him than his feelings, was that after he'd gotten his freedom from another owner of the lamp, Sora had come back to him. Had just... shown up in his bedroom window one night like he'd always been there, and kept showing up every night after. Like a guardian angel, sans the wings but all other powers intact. Riku had moved out. Sora moved with him.

"What did I do to make you dislike me this time?"

He sighed. "Does it matter?"

A warm hand on his shoulder. "It does. I want you to be happy." Sora's voice, his smile, wrapped him in a thick blanket of comfort that he easily returned. Though, it wavered.

"I guess it's those wishes you made for me when we found each other. I appreciate the gifts, but I hate how it's never actually me they're complimenting."

"What do you mean?"

Another sigh. "Well I'm only attractive and intelligent and strong because you wished I was attractive, intelligent, and strong. They're not my qualities, they're ones you gave me."

Sora looked at him for a long moment, a strange expression lining his face. "I didn't wish for those things for you. Well, not technically." He laughed at the confused expression that got him. "Riku, you sound like you had nothing to do with who you became."

"Well, I didn't."

"_Yes_, you did." Sora shook his head, a soft expression replacing the amusement, though it still danced in his eyes. "I didn't wish for you to be attractive; I wished for an appearance to match the beauty of your soul." He paused, letting his words sink in. "I didn't wish for your intelligence, I wished for a mind as bright as your spirit. I didn't wish for your body, perfect as it may be – I wished for the steel of your determination and your courage to give you all the strength you'd need. And then, all I did was ask for a chance to show us your worth." Another smile, bright and proud. "You had everything to do with making yourself into this person – all of this," He said gesturing to the man in front of him. "is because of what's inside of it. You made yourself." Teasing filled his expression. "I just helped."

Stunned silence followed. Riku gaped, rousing himself eventually to give the other a light shove. "You're such a loser." He groused, and then pulled his friend into a hug. _"Thank you."_

Sora smiled into the shoulder at his lips, and tilted his head to be heard. "Always."

* * *

_It's incredibly cheesy and I don't care._

-_Sable_


End file.
